Tag Archives: custom furniture

Since we’ve made the transition over to Stonehurst, our new headquarters and showroom, we’ve had some of the most wonderful experiences with our customers. It’s been a pleasure for us to meet our guests in person and help them have a comfortable and easy Vermont furniture shopping experience. From helping our guests choose Vermont made decor and artwork for their homes, to assisting in the creation of the perfect custom furniture, or simply giving guidance for furniture upkeep; we love that our guests are excited about their shopping experience with us.

Jeannie and Jeff S., are two of our customers who made a trip out to Stonehurst to see our furniture up close before they made any decisions. Pleased with our showroom and the quality of our designs, they decided to purchase a bedroom set and new dining room furniture. The photos included in this blog were sent in by them, along with this lovely note:

“We had a wonderful experience at Vermont Wood Studios starting with our thoughtful and extensive meeting with Sean at your lovely Brattleboro showroom. Sean gave excellent advice to customize our order and kept in touch while the craftspeople made our bedroom and dining room furniture. It was delivered earlier than expected by the very capable ALB Transport in perfect condition. We are absolutely thrilled by the beauty and uniqueness of the bed, dressers, dining room table and chairs. We are happy to recommend both the furniture and customer oriented values of Vermont Wood Studios! With much appreciation, Jeannie and Jeff S.”

We really appreciate this positive feedback, and are proud to showcase Vermont wood furniture in such a grand location (& with such a great staff!). Our team is here at Stonehurst Monday-Saturday 9-5, and we’d love for you to visit to see for yourself! Visiting Stonehurst before you shop online makes the buying experience that much more comfortable, as you’ll see first hand the luxurious quality of our handcrafted furniture designs in a natural Vermont home setting.

Much of the bedroom furniture purchased here at Vermont Woods Studios is customized to meet specific style or dimensional criteria specified by our customers. Contrary to popular belief, custom bedroom furniture can be surprisingly affordable! Over the coming weeks I’ll share our Top 5 Tips for customizing hardwood furniture.

Here’s my #1 Tip and it applies to bedroom chests, dressers, armoires and night stands as well as any other case goods that have doors or drawers:

Change the Drawer Pull

It sounds like a small change but it’s the quickest and easiest way to get a custom look for your furniture. Of course with some dressers and chests, the pulls are an integral part of the overall design. Our Cherry Moon and Modern American collections would be an example of this and you wouldn’t want to change pulls.

But many interior designers are taking a fresh look at Shaker and Mission style furniture and saying, “hey I can jazz this up and create a whole new style by changing the pulls.” You can find a variety of different pulls on our website and in our showroom at Stonehurst. Each of our independent workshops carries their own collection of pulls so if you’re ordering online you’ll want to give us a call to make sure we can match a given pull with the chest or dresser you’re interested in. You can also send us your own pulls and we’ll install them!

A few different options for drawer pulls are displayed in our Stonehurst fine furniture showroom. Pick one or send us your own unique pulls to customize you bedroom furniture quickly and easily.

Stay tuned for more tips on how to customize your bedroom furniture easily and affordably. Next up: combining two contrasting wood tones (like maple and cherry) into a single piece.

This Modern American Buffet-Sideboard which doubles as a TV console or media center is typical of our made to order furniture. It’s handmade in Vermont of solid wood and guaranteed to last a lifetime. Would you be willing to wait 5-18 weeks to have this piece made for you and delivered to your home?

How long would you be willing to wait to have solid wood, made to order furniture created just for you? Four weeks? Eight weeks? Three months? Four months?

Lead time is something we struggle with in the world of Vermont’s handmade furniture. It used to be the typical lead time for a piece like the Modern American Buffet-Sideboard (shown above) was 5-8 weeks. But, alas with the Internet– Vermont made furniture has been re-discovered! It’s popularity is growing and rightly so– it’s beautiful, affordable, American made and sustainable.

The downside of this popularity rebirth, however is that customers sometimes have to wait longer to receive their custom made treasures. They ask us: WHY DOES IT TAKE SO LONG?

Well I guess it all goes back to the laws of supply and demand. A growing awareness of Vermont made to order furniture is keeping our independent woodworkers busy around the clock. Many of them are growing their businesses in response to demand but it’s going to take a little time. As they say… quality can’t be rushed.

In response to our steady growth, we recently allied with a furniture maker from across the river in New Hampshire, to design a couple new lines of furniture for us. Quite a shocking move for a company that’s all about Vermont made furniture, but fortunately, the skills and aesthetics of local woodworkers doesn’t stop at the Connecticut River.

For now, I just want to assure you that we are doing our very best to keep lead times to a minimum.

Neville has placed a “Lead Time” tab on every product page to let you know the current estimated ETA for that piece, including shipping and delivery. You can read more general information about our lead times on our Shipping & Delivery page.

Although, occasionally a craftsman will get sick or a delivery truck will be detained by weather, we do our very best to ensure deliveries are made within those time frames. If you have questions about an existing order, or are thinking of placing a new order– give our crackerjack sales and customer service staff (Liz, Sean, Michelle and Loryn) a call to discuss further specifics. And let us know on Facebook: how much time would you consider “reasonable” to wait for your made to order furniture?

Copeland’s Dominion Bedroom Furniture set was our best seller last week. Think maybe it’s because this picture is so cheerful? Who wouldn’t want their bedroom to look like this, especially when coming out of a long winter — heading into Spring.

Copeland’s Dominion bedroom furniture set was our best seller last week. I love this picture, but the cool thing about Dominion is that you can customize it online to look exactly like this (above) or give it a totally different style. The photo above shows this high end bedroom set in natural cherry wood, although you can change the color online and add one of 3 stains: cognac cherry, saddle cherry or smoke cherry. For example, here’s a photo of the same Dominion bedroom in saddle cherry, which is darker than natural cherry and looks similar to walnut wood.

You can modify Copeland’s Dominion chests with different style tops and drawer pulls. Customize any dresser, chest or night stand to fit in with your existing Shaker style or modern contemporary bedroom furniture.

You can also customize the Dominion bedroom set by changing the shape of the top of each chest or dresser. In the photo above the chest on the left has a top that’s flush with the sides of the case, whereas the chest on the right has an over-hanging top. It creates a whole different look!

Furthermore, if you choose small, round mushroom shaped drawer pulls along with the flush top (shown left), you’ve got a variation of traditional Shaker style furniture. But by selecting brushed nickle bars for drawer pulls and pairing them with the over-hanging top, you’ve created a much different, modern contemporary look for the same chest.

Check it out! This is your chance to design your own bedroom furniture and have it handcrafted especially for you, by Vermont craftsmen. Copeland furniture is affordable too and offers a great value for your money, plus we guarantee it for a lifetime. So what are you waiting for?

Steve Holman’s Curvy Drawer Sideboard is featured at Source, an exhibition of exquisite and creative Vermont custom furniture and craftspeople with a focus on the source of all elements that collaborate to make the final piece. Source is now playing at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe, Vermont.

Vermont Custom Furniture Showcased in Stowe

Vermont custom furniture takes center stage this month at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe. Members of the Guild of Vermont Furniture Makers are showcasing examples of their work, which (in my humble opinion) is among the finest custom furniture you’ll find anywhere.

The Stowe expo, Source focuses on the origin of all elements that collaborate to make the final exquisite and creative piece. “The exhibit maps the source of materials, the relationships between forester, mill and craftsperson, as well as the path that the artists took (who influenced them, and where they learned their craft) to become furniture makers”.

From left: David Hurwitz’s free-form, wavy chest of drawers, Dave Boynton’s custom acoustic cabinet and Mario Messina’s Trillium chair. See them up close and personal at Vermont’s Custom Artisan Furniture Show at the Helen Day Center in Stowe.

Where Does Your Furniture Come From?

At Vermont Woods Studios our focus has always been on “where does your furniture come from” particularly from an environmental perspective (where is the wood from and was it sustainably harvested).

What I love about this expo is that it takes a broader look into the origin of these works of art, focusing on the artists, their inspirations and the chain of partners involved in getting their wood from the forest to their studios.

If you’re heading up to Stowe to ski and you love woodworking, be sure to make time to stop at the Helen Day Center for a relaxing and inspiring visit. Hours are Wednesday – Sunday 12pm-5pm and by appointment. Admission is by donation. It’s well worth the trip!